Are you learning Koine Greek, the Greek of the New Testament and most other post-classical Greek texts? Whatever your level, use this forum to discuss all things Koine, Biblical or otherwise, including grammar, textbook talk, difficult passages, and more.

Well, keep in mind that the author of Matthew was a Jew (and, if it really was written by the apostle Matthew, a relatively uneducated one at that!) and so Greek was not his first or best language and his use tends to be... different ;)

and yes, the two nouns disagree because one is speaking of the people as a collective, but the sins belong to individuals. just as in english we wouldn't say "save the people from its sins" as though the collective had sins (I guess that *could* happen, but is not common).

Why? I am not as seasoned in Greek as some of you, but I think that autos makes perfect sense here. It is just putting emphasis on who will do the saving. "...and you shall call his name Jesus (meaning saviour) for he will save his people from their sins". ie. that is why he will be called Jesus.

I think she's referring to the fact that he used autos, autou, and autwn in such close proximity with each other... although it could be argued that they were all necessary for the right emphasis, but I don't think so. :)

I see. I didn't notice this, possibly because I'm (slightly) more familiar with NT greek than with Classical.
I remember asking a question on the 'Learning Greek' forum something like if i am just supposed to use context to find out whose son/daughter/object Homer is writing about because he usually does not use a pronoun to indicate it.
If Homer had written Matthew, maybe this verse would look like; [face=SPIonic]saw/sei ga\r lao\n a)po\ a(martiw=n[/face]
(Except it would be in hexameter)

This kind of agreement is very frequent in Greek (no matter which Greek) and in Latin too. It is called an agreement [face=SPIonic]kata\ su/nesin[/face] "according to the meaning". Yes, [face=SPIonic]lao/s[/face] is singular, but the author has nevertheless many persons in sight.

Speaking of being mad on some words, do you know this sentence :

[face=SPIonic]Bi/oj bi/ou deo/menos ou)k e)/sti bi/oj[/face]

Here, the meaning of [face=SPIonic]bi/oj[/face] changes each time : "A life deprived of means of existence is no (decent) way of life."

Bert wrote:The funny thing is, when I wrote this post I was thinking:" Just wait and see, William will try it".

Oh, no! I'm so predictable.

I did try it. Since it's impossible to work in any form of [face=spionic]a(marti/a[/face] except the singular nominative or dative with synezesis, my fixation moved on to iambic trimeter - the standard form of dialog in Greek drama. Alas, all I could manage was an iambic trimeter catalectic (I dropped the final syllable):

[face=spionic]a)f' a(martiw=n ga\r lao\n au)to\j sw/sei[/face]

And I'm not entirely sure about the [face=spionic]g/ar[/face], but I think that use may sanctioned if we take the prep+noun to be very tightly bound.